This application relates to a new cultivar of Adenium obesum. The new variety is the product of a planned breeding program. The new variety originated as a seedling from the crossing of the unpatented, proprietary seed parent Adenium obesum ‘VCKP9’ with the unpatented, proprietary pollen parent referred to as Adenium obesum ‘VKGGW9’. The crossing was made by the inventor in a non commercial nursery in Bangkok, Thailand during 2006.
The new variety was first selected by the inventor, Anong Leelachaikul, a citizen of Thailand, in June 2009, at the same nursery in Bangkok, Thailand. After identifying the new variety as a potentially interesting selection, the inventor continued confidential testing and propagation of ‘LEELADE203’, assessing stability of the unique characteristics of this variety.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘LEELADE203’ was first performed in October 2010, at a commercial nursery in Bangkok, Thailand by taking a nodal cutting from the new variety and grafting that to a rootstock plant. The rootstock plants are started from seed, and are unnamed, unpatented varieties of Adenium obesum. Access to all plants was restricted, as plants were kept in a greenhouse not open to the public. Through subsequent propagation by vegetative cuttings, multiple generations have been reproduced, which have shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.